Suburban Symphony
You lived in the Laburnums
Down avenues of ancient beech
Across a mile of parquet floor
To bitter kisses at your door
Like an advertisement for a motor car

In your suburban childhood
Did you fly on wild horses
From your bedroom
Out the backdoor
By the veranda?
In your suburban symphony
Did you play the side drum in the garden
Or the timpani
Boomy midnight
By the pylons?

With nothing on beneath your skirt
The wonders of this breathing earth
Days spent staring into space
Before the seasons start to race
Like a skier and a speedboat

In your suburban childhood
Did you fly on wild horses
From your bedroom
Out the backdoor
By the veranda?
In your suburban symphony
Did you play the side drum in the garden
Or the timpani
Boomy midnight
By the pylons?

You made me fly.
The bees were buzzing in your ears
To the rhythms of the shears
Time wasted trying to make sense
Of the threads of consequence
Like a Cartier on a skeleton

In your suburban childhood
Did you fly on wild horses
From your bedroom
Out the backdoor
By the veranda?
In your suburban reverie
Did you climb out the window
Just to meet me
In the darkness?
On the common ground of our childhood.